Twisted Reflections
by Cowgal Edge
Summary: Sora runs away from his family in hopes that he will forget the pain they cause him, but as his memories slowly fade away he realizes that he isn't ready to let go of them. RikuSora, AxelRoxas.
1. Labyrinth

**Chapter One: Labyrinth**

Bright lights that blare blindly bounce of endless walls of white. Panicked beeps and buzzes send nurses and doctors scurrying through the chaotic halls. The medic's frantic shouts warn everyone to get out of the way, but despite their haste, the patients' lives melt into a cruelly straight line

In one of the many intensely white painted waiting rooms of the hospital sat two brothers. These brothers shared a close bond that tied their very lives together. They were twins, and had been recently orphaned.

Roxas, who had been born two hours before his twin was pressing his silently crying, face into his brother's chest. His spiky blond hair was poking his twin's cheek uncomfortably, but the other seemed to be unaware of this, and wrapped his arms around the older boy. Sora's own eyes were tear filled, but he couldn't address his own sadness until his brother's pain was erased. What did mother used to do when Roxas cried? The same thing she did for Sora, tell a story.

"Once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess with hair of gold and a voice so lovely it brought happiness to all who heard it. On her ring finger she had a ring that was given to her by the man she loved. It was her most cherished possession and she would find time everyday to sit and admire the glint it made from the kiss of light. Her lover had departed for a perilous journey, and the only remembrance she had of him was this single ring." Sora paused in his story telling when he felt Roxas trace a finger over his lips.

"Continue," Roxas whispered in Sora's ear, and wound his other hand through his brother's chocolate brown hair. Sora was relieved that his brother had stopped crying. and he pushed his own pain into the far recesses of his mind.

"Time passed and the princess waited patiently for his return. The wait was long and she locked herself in a tall tower so that she would be the first one to see him when he arrived back home. Then, one day she saw him. She stood at her window waiting and willing for him to look up at her, but he never did. When they finally met face to face, the man told her that he had been in an accident and had lost his memories, but he hoped that the two of them were friends. The princess was heart-broken and to forget her pain she created her own reality. For the second time in her life she locked herself in the tower and waited for her love to come back. She convinced herself that the man who had given her the ring was not the man that had appeared. Right now that princess is still waiting by her window. She is searching the horizon for her lost love." Sora finished the tale and ruffled Roxas' hair.

"Sora, we have to tell her the truth," Roxas stopped tracing his fingers over his brother's lips and slowly stood up on shaky legs. "Let's write her a message."

"I'm sure she'd appreciate that," Sora answered. He didn't have the heart to tell his brother that the princess was just some made up character in a fairy tale. It was easier for Roxas to deal with the loss of their parents if he had something to occupy his mind. As long as Roxas was distracted from the pain; Sora was happy.

Roxas gave his brother a smile from his tear stained face, and made a silent promise to himself. He promised that he would become as strong as his brother and when that day came it would be him protecting Sora. He was the elder twin after all, he reasoned. It should be him wiping away the hurt.

The brunette was also making an unspoken promise with himself. He would undertake the responsibly of shielding Roxas from hurt. Sora couldn't bear to see his brother's face so forlorn, and he promised himself that Roxas would never have a reason to feel broken again.

Roxas reached out a hand to Sora, who grasped it, and was pulled up and off the ground. They held hands a little longer than necessarily as if by being connected by this link would seal their own private promises.

_Eleven years later…_

Roxas sped down the deserted country road. He hadn't seen his brother in two months and although he didn't want to admit it, he was getting kind of lonely. Earlier that day he had found a letter from Sora that had been hidden in the middle of one of their grandmother's red rose bushes, and although it was a pain to get out, he knew that he deserved the little pricks from the thorns for not telling his brother where he had disappeared to. Sora would have had no idea where to send the letter in the first place and their grandmother would have destroyed any evidence that she came across that could in any way shape or form help Roxas to find the current location of their new home.

The letter had updated Roxas on the whereabouts of his brother and that bitch, and the reason behind their sudden move. Sora had included a picture of the new house and directions on how to get there.

Roxas studied the picture Sora had given him. The house in the photograph looked like an old Victorian castle. As strange as that sounded. The white paint was cracked and stained, and the windows were black with dirt and dust from being neglected of a good cleaning. There was a tower with a small window that reminded Roxas of a story from his past, and according to Sora's letter there was a large garden that was some sort of maze.

Currently the photograph was sitting on his dashboard along with two other photographs that each held a little piece of his heart.

-xxx-

It was twilight, and the room was covered in a thick layer of dust, and gave off an old waffling antique smell. A queen sized bed tucked in nicely with light blue covers looked too comfy to ever want to wake up from, and the small face mirror that hung over the dresser was cracked like a spider's web.

Holding a pink feather duster and broom in one hand and a Windex bottle and a rag in the other was Sora. He let out an exasperated sigh as he looked about the room before him. It would take him more than one day to clean his deceased great aunt's house. Luckily, he wasn't doing this alone, or he would never finish.

Sora had never met his great aunt, and so her death hadn't affected him other than to cause him to feel sorrow over someone he never knew. It was the same feeling he got when hearing about a death of some stranger on the television. He felt worse for not feeling bad over the death than feeling bad about the death itself.

His reaction was a lot less heartless than his grandmother Mimi, who absolutely hated her elder sister and hadn't shed one tear. In fact when the news of her sister's death had reached her, the first thing she had said was, "Does this mean I get her house?" This remark resulted with a shocked lawyer who was acting as the executor and a thoroughly embarrassed Sora, but in the end the house had been given over to Sora and his twin brother. Roxas had been absent for the reading of the will. The reason for Roxas' nonappearance was unknown, and Sora was a little worried, but he knew that Roxas could take care of himself.

Sora and his brother were not yet eighteen and their grandmother was their guardian, and so they were unable to have full ownership of the house until the next year. Despite his great aunt's wishes the house still fell into her younger sister's hands. His great aunt was probably pissed that she hadn't lived for one more year when Sora and his brother would turn eighteen.

It had only taken two weeks for Sora and his grandmother to pack up their belongings and arrive at the front door of their new home. His grandmother had driven him like a slave, and he had been forced to work non-stop in packing up their possessions. At the time he had been muttering curses under his breath, but now he felt as if he had done a job well done.

Looking down at the cleaning utensils Sora uttered a groan; the work was still not complete. All of the rickety furniture had passed on to Sora as well, and his grandmother wanted to keep it, and thus she gave Sora the time consuming job of cleaning it, and making the house livable for the both of them. Earlier today he and his grandmother had cleaned the bedroom that was to be hers, and when it came down to cleaning the bedroom that he had chosen, she had conveniently disappeared. He knew that if he tried to question her about this she would start to complain about her "bad back" and he would be forced to listen to her recite the four hour story of how she had sprained it. Although said story became more exaggerated with each telling, Sora did not want to hear her repeat it.

There had been quite a few bedrooms to choose from. Sora's grandmother had informed him that the house was built with the intension of making it into a bed and breakfast. The first floor consisted of the entrance hall, dining-room, kitchen, and a waiting room. The second floor had a music room, a ballroom, breakfast room, and two bedrooms that looked like they had once belonged to servants. Six bed rooms and a sitting room resided on the third floor, and on the fourth floor were another sitting room and a large master bedroom. The house was huge, and Sora wondered if a place as big as this could ever feel like home for only two people.

"Sora, how goes the cleaning?" Sora muffled a surprised scream and awoke from his ponderings. He peered out the door to see his grandmother standing at the bottom of the stairs.

"Slow and steady, but I'm getting a little hungry." His stomach growled to prove his point, and hearing this, his grandmother laughed. Sora loved her laugh. To him it sounded like the twinkles of little fairy bells that were ready to whisk him off to some place unknown, but truly magical. He wondered if his mother had laughed like that, but he quickly dismissed this thought and immersed himself in the task of cleaning the house.

A cool wind breathed on the back of Sora's exposed neck causing him to shiver. Sora stopped his dusting and walked over to the window to close it shut. Or he would have, because he realized that the window was already shut, and now that he thought about it the window had never even been opened in the first place. If this was the case, then what created the wind?

The brief flash of headlights lit through the room from outside the vary window Sora had been pondering over. He heard the car's engine turn off, and peering out the window he could make out the dark figure of his twin getting out of his car. The car door slammed shut and with a sinking heart Sora knew that Roxas was in a bad mood. The cool wind was all but forgotten as Sora sprinted out of his bedroom and down the stairs.

-xxx-

Roxas stuffed Sora's letter and the directions to the house in his pants pocket as he made his way to the front door. The gravel driveway had created an extremely bumpy ride, and he hoped that driving over it hadn't messed up his car. He jogged up to the worn steps and knocked on the door after realizing that the door bell was broken.

If Roxas had been smiling, then the smile would have died on his face, and so instead he just glared at the old woman who had opened the door.

"What are you doing here?" The bitch asked him. Roxas knew she was silently cursing herself for not finding all evidence to their whereabouts and destroying it.

"You're not dead yet? How unfortunate," Roxas answered and he felt his lips form into a bitter smile as he pushed past her.

He was too late, his grandmother had already answered the door and by the look on her face Sora knew she was already pissed at something Roxas had said. Her light blue eyes were filled with heated anger, and her shoulders were ridged with stress.

"Hey Sora," Roxas greeted his brother with a simple nod of the head. He had already made himself at home by sitting in one of the large red chairs that matched the interior of the whole entrance hall.

"Roxas," Sora acknowledged Roxas with a small, but sincere smile, and tried his best to ignore the tension he was feeling between his grandmother and his brother. He wanted to ask his brother where he had disappeared to for the last two months, but he didn't want to be the one to spark the fire that would result in a fight.

"It's strange how great aunt Opal died so suddenly," Roxas was looking at Sora, but speaking to their grandmother. "The timing of her death couldn't be any more ironic than it already is."

Before his grandmother had the chance to retort, Sora quickly cut in hoping to delay the permissible fight. "Yes, we were quite lucky. Being evicted from one house then being freely given another home in the same week, this doesn't happen to everybody." Hoping to change the subject Sora concealed his uneasiness in a mask of happiness as he asked, "Will you be staying with us."

Roxas provided Sora with a smile that illustrated his appreciation, "Are you asking me to?"

"You are not welcome here." Their grandmother's voice was filled with abundance on this particular issue and she fixed Roxas with a glare that was overflowing with dislike.

The sincere smile Roxas had given Sora was replaced with a bitter sneer. "According to the will, half of this house belongs to me, making me a partial owner and you a delusional hag."

"At least I'm not selling my body to everyone I see!" Grandma Mimi's voice rose to a shrill shriek and she pointed an accusing finger at Roxas.

"That's because no one would buy your wrinkling and saggy body!" Roxas' voice rose as well and he jumped out of the chair so he could tower over her.

"Roxas, are you hungry?!" Sora practically yelled this, but he knew he had to intervene somehow. The two opponents of the current battle ceased their fighting, and the tension that had been eating away at the room suddenly vanished.

"I ate before I came here," Roxas shrugged, and Sora gave him a genuine smile. He felt a sense of relief that he had been able to stop the fight before it had gotten ugly. Usually his grandmother and his twin ignored him when he tried to halt their battles, and the aftermath resulted with grandma slapping Roxas, and Roxas taking off in his car to God knows where. Sora hated when this happened. It made him so frustrated that the two people he loved the most hated each other.

"Ate what? Some stranger's dick" The twin's grandmother puffed out her chest with her taunt.

"Grandmother!" Sora cautioned. He couldn't believe that another fight was picking up so soon.

"Yeah I did, and you know what? It tasted better than anything you could cook up!" Roxas' harshly replied at the same time Sora did, only his voice was raised high in anger, and left Sora's own plea on deaf ears.

"Why can't you be more like your brother?!" The twin's grandmother clenched her hands as if she was preparing to deliver her blonde haired grandson a blow.

"A virgin? Is that what you mean? If I had sex with Sora right now, right in front of you would you treat him the same way you treat me?!" As if to prove his point, Roxas advanced towards Sora.

"Roxas please stop!" Sora pleaded while taking a few steps backwards to avoid his brother's inviting arms.

"Shut the fuck up Sora! Why do you always take that bitch's side?!" Roxas hadn't meant to snap at his brother like that, but as he watched a heartbroken Sora run out the back door, he felt his own heart breaking.

-xxx-

Sora had run away from the giant and empty house, from his uptight grandmother, and his brother who…who had more sorrow in his heart than anyone else Sora knew.

He had no idea how long he was going to run, but he did have a vague recollection to where he was running. The high walls of the old house's labyrinth towered over Sora as he ran through the garden maze. The hedges were over grown from neglect and Sora tripped over a particularly large branch. As he tumbled to the ground a muffled cry escaped him. The fall unfroze his numbed feelings and the tears that filled his eyes became too much for him to hold back and they streamed down his cheeks. Curling up in a fetal position, Sora's body racked with his sobs as his mind tried to find some answer that would heal his inner pain.

Sora felt like his feelings were invisible to his family. Why couldn't they see that they were hurting him with their cruel barbs at each other? His heart was suffering from being torn in two. He knew that his grandmother just wanted the best for him and his brother, but she was so blinded by her sense of right that she was isolating Roxas from her love.

Roxas slept around a lot, and while Sora didn't approve of this, he didn't know how to stop his brother from doing it. His twin hadn't always been so edgy, something had happened to him, and with a sinking feeling Sora realized that whatever had hurt Roxas, he didn't stop it, because he had no idea what 'it' was. Sora had broken **the **promise, his promise. This realization brought new tears to Sora's eyes, and the despairing boy cried himself to sleep somewhere deep within the labyrinth.

-xxx-

A beautiful melody awoke Sora from his slumber, and as his sense slowly became more aware he realized the music was being made with a stringed instrument. Curious as to who was making the memorizing notes, Sora picked himself up from the ground and followed the voice of the haunting song that came from deep within the maze.

The center of the labyrinth was breath taking. Statues of angels guarded the edge of a deep pond. In the middle of the body of water was a white gazebo sitting on a small island. The decoration made Sora think of a stacked wedding cake.

At first Sora thought that the figure sitting in the white gazebo was his grandmother, but as he drew closer he felt a small blush creep on to his face as he realized his mistake.

Instead of a familiar old lady, there was a stunningly gorgeous young man who couldn't have been much older than Sora himself. His snow white hair looked as soft as a dove's feathers and his long graceful fingers plucked at the strings of an instrument that Sora didn't know the name of.

Sora would have spent the rest of his life staring at the picturesque scene before him, but alas all magic comes to an end. Time took place once more as the attractive man became aware of Sora's presence and looked up to lock eyes with Sora's. The young man's aquamarine eyes held kind smiles even though his mouth was set in a confused line.

"Welcome back, Sora." It was Sora's turn to feel confused when he heard the stranger's words, "You've been gone a long time. We've missed you."


	2. Enter Axel

**Small Note:**_It has been awhile since I've updated this story, and I'm deeply sorry. I didn't mean to make you wait this long! I had half of this chapter written and decided that it needed to be finished and uploaded today! Thank you for reading and reviewing. I love hearing your thoughts on the story, so please continue to review! _

_I don't own any of the characters, I only like to play with them._

**Chapter Two: Enter Axel **

"Missed me?" Sora inquired of the stranger, "Have we met?" The light that had shown in the man's aqua eyes seemed to dim in sadness, and even though Sora was quite sure he had never seen this man before he felt bad for some reason. Sora racked his brain to find something to say, something that would ignite that light again.

"We've met many times." The stranger cradled a stringed instrument in his arms like a mother would hold her child.

"I would have remembered a face like yours." Sora told him sincerely. A little bit of the light returned to the stranger's eyes and Sora couldn't help but smile upon seeing it.

"Then for your benefit, I'll introduce myself." The stranger stood up and strolled over to Sora. He stopped in front of the smaller boy and held out his hand for Sora to shake. "My name is Riku Suzuki."

"I'm Sora Tanaka," The younger boy replied. Sora took Riku's hand in his own and they shook in greeting. When Sora had informed Riku that this was their first meeting the silver haired man had seemed disappointed, but not at all surprised. Why hadn't he been surprised? It seemed like Riku had expected Sora's reaction.

Sora wasn't quite sure why he gave Riku his name. Was it because Riku seemed to have already figured it out…or someone told him…but if they did, then who?

"Err… wait a second. How did you get in here? You do know that this garden is private property, and belongs to the house over there." Sora waved his hand at the house behind him, and narrowed his eyes in suspension.

"I'm well acquainted with the owner." Riku informed him with what Sora guessed he believed to be great reassurance.

"You know Roxas?" Sora had never met any of Roxas' friends, because their grandmother had forbidden Roxas to bring them home, and Roxas didn't talk about his social life at all.

"Roxas...? No, I was referring to Marluxia." The silver haired young man acted like an adult talking to an incorrigible child. Sora fought the urge not to pout, and silently congratulated himself when he succeeded.

"I'm sorry Riku, but I think you've got the wrong house." Sora was feeling a wave of sympathy for the young man. Obviously he had gotten lost and had wandered into the garden's maze.

"You don't remember anything…" Riku whispered softly to himself, but Sora caught his words. "Come with me. I'll introduce you to your friends."

-xxx-

Axel loved to read. Not only was it a hobby, but it was his life, or at least his secret life. If asked Axel would deny any and all feelings for reading. He might even insult the act of reading, but later when he was alone in the dark corners of the library he would pray to the god of books and ask for forgiveness. He had an image to maintain, and if the truth about his bookworm habits ever broke out, his ego would crash and burn.

Axel was the perfect picture of trouble. Fiery blood red hair, an indifferent glare that could burn even the most fireproof box, a smirk that was made for mischief and a mouth that just couldn't resist saying dirty things.

To the people outside the library, Axel was the eponymy of sin, but to the rare folks that visited the library from time to time, Axel was known as the sweat faced boy who was always polite and had something nice to say to everyone who came by.

That small list of people who stepped foot into the library consisted of kindly old grandmother Fumiko, who liked to check out vividly descriptive romances and share with Axel all of their details (thanks to her, Axel could safely say that he knew all of the ways to fall in love, die for love and make love), a strange old man who checked out 'How to draw' books and had an eye that twitched when he was agitated (which was all the time), the librarian who was mostly blind and forced Axel to read poems to her and also gave Axel a part time job at the library, and a thirteen year old boy named Tidus who checked out horror, mystery books and liked to pester Axel for hours with no end.

Axel kept this life hidden from his 'friends' and his family. He had to protect his image, or he would fall victim to their never ending ridicule. No one would ever guess that when their small town bad boy disappeared that he was working in the library.

"…and then the dashing William snatched up his sword and ran out to kidnap his enemy… who will later turn out to be the love of his life." Grandmother Fumiko finished letting out a heart filled sigh, "Oh, darling, I almost forgot to tell you the news."

Although momentarily thrown off by her change of subject, Axel was able to adjust his settings. "What news?"

"You know that large old house that used to be owned by that stingy old hoot?" Fumiko asked, and once Axel nodded she continued, "Apparently her only living relatives inherited the house, an old woman and her two grandsons. At the police station, I overheard that one of the boys went missing two days ago, and that nobody has any idea where he went."

"Mrs. Fumiko, tell me everything you overheard about this mystery!" Tidus appeared out of nowhere like the detective he was growing up to be. He had a blue notepad in one hand and a mechanical pencil in the other. His eyes gleamed with an insane curiosity, and Axel felt blinded by the sheen of Tidus's eager smile.

"Well, I didn't hear much more than that, but I do have a theory as to what happened to the boy."

"Tell me, Mrs. Fumiko. You must tell me!" Tidus whispered eagerly, and Axel rolled his eyes heaven words as if to say, 'here we go again…'

"I think that that the house is under a terrible curse." Mrs. Fumiko told the boy with complete sincerity. Every word that the old woman uttered was quickly written down as an exact copy.

"How mysterious, how unexpected…" Tidus rubbed his chin in thought, and a few seconds later his eyes lit up and he performed a strange heroic pose, "This looks like a job for Detective Tidus and his loyal hunting hound, Axel."

Axel shot a glare at Tidus, who pointedly ignored it, and struck another pose. Grandmother Fumiko seemed very excited by Tidus' exclamation and while clapping her hands she asked, "Where do you plan to start detective?"

"I shall make a visit to the victim's house, and question his family, and then I shall scout the area around the house and look for clues!" Tidus's face was the picture of seriousness, and Axel wondered how anyone could say the things that boy did with such a straight face.

"Tidus, the police have must likely done that already, and if what Mrs. Fumiko says is correct, then they didn't find anything to help with the case." Axel tried to reason, but Tidus didn't look like he was paying much attention to what his 'sidekick' was saying.

"Axel, dear Axel," Tidus began while shaking his head in mock bewilderment. "You must remember: that when at first you don't succeed, you try, try again."

"…And that relates to this situation how?" Axel sighed.

Tidus choose to ignore Axel's question, "Onward! To the mystery van!"

"For some reason I don't think I'm going to be able to back out of this, and that's really sad," Axel mumbled to himself, but Mrs. Fumiko heard him and let out a girlish giggle that was extremely out of place considering her age. Tidus grabbed Axel's hand and dragged him out of the library, and to the 'mystery van' which turned out to be Tidus' bright green bike with Scooby Doo stickers littered all over it.

-xxx-

As Sora followed Riku out of the maze, he felt a little embarrassed that he didn't know his own way out. If Riku hadn't been here then it would have taken the rest of Sora's life just to find the exit. Even though he had only lived in the house for less than a day, Sora felt as if he should have known his way around the grounds better than this stranger.

And what did Riku mean by 'introduce you to your friends'. For some reason Sora highly doubted that Riku was indicating he meant meet new people. He wasn't sure why he was playing along with this confusing stranger, but he couldn't bring himself to contradict the other. Sora decided that he'd humor Riku and play along with the act for just a bit longer. At least until they were out of this ridiculous maze.

The path through the maze was a lot less overgrown now than it had been last night in the dark. The plants looked as if they had their own personal gardener, because they were so well tended. Though Sora could have sworn that last night he had tripped over an overgrown hedge; he could not identify anything large enough that would have caused the accident. He would have believed he was in another garden altogether, except he knew he could never mistake the form of the Victorian house.

"Riku, do you by chance know my grandmother?" Sora asked politely. He didn't think that his grandmother associated with the younger generation, but perhaps Riku was an exception?

"I'm not that old, Sora." Riku replied casually, he threw an incredulous look at Sora, and then seemed to have second thoughts, because he replaced it with a small smile.

"What do you mean?" Sora asked while trying to hide the blush that had risen to his cheeks upon seeing the beautiful smile.

"Your grandparents died before you were born." Riku said delicately as if he was afraid of being the bearer of bad news.

Sora was about to make an angry retort about Riku's answer, but when something crashed into him and knocked him flat on his back he had no breath to respond with.

"Sora!" screamed the high pitch, girly bundle of energy that had collided with him, "Welcome back. It's been so long since I've last seen you!"

The owner of the voice was currently straddling Sora's waist; preventing him from getting up and off the ground. She looked down at Sora with cheerful and friendly enough eyes, but for the barest second Sora thought he saw a bit of resentment trace the corners of her blue eyes. Her light brown hair was styled in an open and inviting way, and Sora couldn't help but to like her, even though she had knocked him to the ground.

"He doesn't remember you." Riku warned, and his voice was soft and delicate despite the bite of his words.

"Oh, yes…" The girl whispered to herself almost strangely. She lifted herself off of Sora and nervously brushed off her yellow jumper. "He…he wouldn't remember."

Sora felt a wave of pity wash over him, and he tried to think of something nice to say that would cheer the downhearted girl up, but he really had no idea as to what they were talking about. He bit back the frustration that was eating at his mind.

"Um…well. My name is Selphe." When she said her name Selphe seemed to light up once again in happiness. She curtsied, and caught off guard, Sora responded with a small bow. Upon seeing this act of respect, Selphe's smile widened and she twirled herself around to face Riku. "When did he get back?"

"He has been here for less than thirty minutes." Riku answered, and he motioned for the two brunets to follow him. Selphe followed immediately, but Sora hesitated before continuing.

He could come to terms with one crazy person, but two?

-xxx-

"Axel, hurry up!" Tidus called, he uncrossed his arms and looked down as if reading the time, and then he tapped his naked wrist.

"I'll get there when I get there," Axel responded while slowing his pace down a considerable bit.

"Well, if you don't hurry up, I'll have grown a beard down to here!" Tidus scratched his chin and then with a grand sweep grew an invisible beard down to his knees.

"You?" Axel smirked, not bothering to choke down a laugh, "You wish you could grow a beard that long."

Axel took forever (or at least it seemed that way to Tidus) to reach the end of the driveway where Tidus stood waiting for him.

"This house is kind of creepy," Axel remarked, giving another smirk to Tidus.

"Don't worry, Axel," Tidus shook his head and began the trek up the long and winding driveway, "You've got me."

"You're right; the ghosts will catch the slowest one first."

"Then it's good that I got my bike!" Tidus hummed, and Axel scowled at being bested by a kid in middle school.

"Now, Tidus. You do know that you shouldn't be a nuisance to these people, no matter how scary their house is," Axel caught up to Tidus and laid a hand on the handle bar of Tidus's bike.

"What are you talking about, Axel?"

"The missing kid's family is probably worried, and they don't need your nose to be poking into any painful thoughts right now," Axel's hand dropped from the bike and he gave Tidus a considering look.

Tidus refused the look, dismissing Axel's warning, "Axel, a boy is missing. They are going to want all the help that they can get!"

"And what help do you think you can be for these people?"

"Didn't we already have this conversation?" Tidus huffed.

"Tidus."

"Alright, alright, I'll watch what I say," Tidus relented with great exasperation, "but I'm still going up there to talk to them."

"Good….wait! What? Did you listen to a word I just said?"

"I'm not going to pester them, I'm going to spy," before Axel could get in another word edgewise, Tidus continued, "That's what people do, they get to know their neighbors."

Their conversation had carried them to the front door of the spooky house, and Axel knew that there was no way he could make Tidus give up his mission. He could only hope for the best.

"Here, I go!" Tidus sprinted up the steps of the front porch and with a grand flourish he pressed the door bell.

And nothing happened.

Undeterred, Tidus pushed the button again, and waited a breath of second before letting out a crazed howl and attacking the doorbell with his finger.

"Tidus, the doorbell is broken," Axel hissed. He was extremely embarrassed to be witness to the younger boy's most current act of idiocy.

If Tidus had a reply it was cut off by the click of a latch and the opening of the front door.

-xxx-

Sora and the others made a final turn and were greeted by the garden's exit. Letting out a sigh, Sora smiled, 'finally.'

Even though he was still upset with both his brother and his grandmother he was glad to see the end of this garden.

Selphe, noticing Sora's relief smiled and inclined her head towards the old Victorian house, "Do you remember this place?"

Sora, tired and quite through with humoring both Selphe and Riku, decided to quit playing along with their game, "Of course, I remember. I live here with my grandmother and my brother. Thank you, Riku for leading me out of that maze, but I'm tired of playing 'let's confuse Sora'."

Selphe's smile slipped with Sora's words, and she opened her mouth as if to voice her hurt when Riku cut her off, "Sora, there is so much I want to tell you, and I can see be the way you're acting that you think we're crazy, and I know that whatever I tell you may sound just as strange, but…"

"But?" Sora prompted.

"But, it must be said," Selphe finished.

The three had stopped, standing on the threshold between the dream of the garden and the reality of the rest of the world.

Sora looked up at the house, his supposed sanctuary and did a double take. Just yesterday the paint on both the shutters and the house itself had been cracked and peeling. Now it looked as if they had received if a not new coat of paint, then at least a touch up. The grass surrounding the house was cut short and the all the windows gleamed from the brush of the sun's light. Most importantly though both his grandmother's and his brother's cars were missing.

"What?" the word slipped out of Sora's mouth. There was absolutely no way that all of this yard work and home repair could have been completed in one night!

Sora looked at Riku, then at Selphe, then back to Riku, "H-how did you do this?"

Riku visibly perplexed, seemed to not have expected Sora's reaction to be like this, "Do what?"

"The house and the yard! Why do they look so kept up?"

"Marluxa wouldn't stand for anything less," Selphe said, when it was clear that Riku was at a loss for words.

"Who's Marluxa?"

"I'm Marluxa."

Sora started, and turned to face the owner of the deep voice who had spoken, this Marluxa person.

_Up Next Is_ **Chapter Three: Unbroken Mirror**_**- **there is no set date, but I hope to update soon!_


	3. Unbroken Mirror

_Wow! Chapter three already! I really like this chapter, and I hope you do to. Read on!_

_I don't own the characters, I just like to play with them._

**Chapter Three: Unbroken Mirror**

Marluxa's deep voice did not match the man who stood before him. Jagged, pink hair brushed Marluxa's shoulders and an upturned nose and assuming eyes made him seem downright petulant.

The man's sudden appearance made all worlds flee from Sora's mouth, but it seemed as if Marluxa was in no such position.

"Ah, Sora. You're back, I see. I trust that you've settled down from that previous incident, and are ready to accept your punishment so that the whole household can move on," Marluxa snapped.

"You've got the wrong guy, I've never seen you before," Sora glanced behind his shoulder at Riku and Selphe, "and I have no idea who either of you are."

Marluxa frowned and made an offensive little sniff of contempt. Affronted by this open act of dislike, Sora's eyes narrowed. Normally he would avoid conflict, but with everything that had happened…

"Look, if all three of you don't start leaving by the time I count to three then I'm going to march up to my house over there and call the cops. One…"

Marluxa made a small girlish giggle and then burst out laughing, "I would love to see you try," and then, too quick for Sora to register what was happening, Marluxa snatched him by the hair and started tugging him up to the house.

Sora caught off balanced, let out a small gasp of pain and surprise, "Let go of me!"

"Not until you learn to stop this foolishness," Marluxa growled.

The struggling pair were half way up to the porch steps when Riku caught up to them, "Marluxa, he doesn't remember what happened."

"Like hell he doesn't remember! This is just another one of his pranks, and it is just like you, Riku to go along with his devious little plans," Marluxa gave Sora's hair a yank every time he referred to him. Sora's own hands were clasped to his offender's arm trying to loosen the hold, but it was like trying to fall up the stairs, impossible.

"I'm serious, Marluxa. I overheard Sephiroth and Dr. Vexen!" Riku seized the wrist of the hand that was gripped in Sora's hair.

Marluxa paused, but did not release Sora, "What did you overhear?"

"That- that the bump on his head made him forget," Riku whispered, and Sora was surprised to see how wet Riku's eyes were as he said this. He decided not to intervene, hoping that Riku could get the jerk to let go of him.

Marluxa and Riku stared eye to eye silently challenging each other and Sora let out a thankful gasp when he felt his hair being released, signaling Marluxa's defeat. Riku in turn, relinquished his own hand.

"Where is your father now?" Marluxa snapped.

"With Namine," Riku answered. Marluxa pointed a finger that shook with anger at Riku and then lowered it. He gave a final death-chilling-look at Sora and then rushed up the stairs and into the house.

"Riku, what is your father telling Namine?" Selphe laid a hand on Riku's shoulder, but he shrugged it off and turned to face Sora. He offered Sora a hand off the ground, and without thought, Sora took it.

"Marluxa tends to overreact when it comes to his sister," Riku said as a form of an apology.

"Thank you for intervening," Sora rubbed a hand through his hair trying to sooth the sting. His eyes widened when his fingers came across a large bump and he winced in pain. When did that get there?

A sudden dark sinking feeling dropped to the bottom of his stomach. Was Riku right? Had he hit his head and forgotten everything? No, no, no. Roxas was real. There was no way that his brother could be anything but. All those memories he had were proof that he didn't have some form of amnesia.

"Roxas!" Sora called out the name expecting an answer.

"Sora, please…" Sora ran into the house before Riku could get the rest of his words out. He would find Roxas. He had to!

-xxx-

Roxas would not have run after Sora regardless of the fact that his grandmother had warned him to let Sora be. He had been so fucking angry at his grandmother, at Sora, at his life, and at himself. If he could go back to that night he would have run after Sora. It had been two and a half days since Sora had run away, and Roxas wasn't sure how Sora could take it, all this waiting.

"Stupid. That's my job, running away," Roxas mumbled to himself.

He didn't blame Sora for running away. Roxas had a lot to apologize for, and maybe when Sora came back, just maybe he would tell Sora about…

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaggrah!"

"What the hell?" Roxas snapped. He knew it couldn't be the crazy bitch as she was at the police station, so that must mean it was Sora!

Roxas practically leaped down the whole flight of stairs in his mad dash for the door. He would tell Sora that he was sorry, that he had waited for him to come home just like Sora did for him, that they should forget the bitch and leave together, and most importantly he'd tell Sora the secret he had been keeping from him since forever…

Tearing open the door, Roxas met ocean blue eyes…that didn't belong to Sora. Instead a sandy haired kid looking as if he had been caught red-handed looked back at him.

Roxas could not keep the disappointment from showing on his face, "Who the hell are you?"

The kid blinked his owlish eyes, and pointed to himself as if to say 'who me?' Roxas merely raised his eyebrows.

"Why, hello there neighbor. I'm Tidus and…" Roxas slammed the door in his face.

Roxas was so pissed with himself. How could he have gotten his hopes up so quickly? Damn it!

There was a small, apologetic knock from the other side of the door. Feeling like a jerk, Roxas opened the door once more. This kid deserved an apology, he supposed.

"As I was saying, I'm Tidus and my sidekick is Axel. I thought it would be quite neighborly to come and visit the…"

"We don't have any neighbors, unless you live out in the woods. If you haven't noticed, this house is out in the middle of nowhere," Roxas interrupted.

"Oh, we noticed all right. It was quite the adventure getting here, and all," Tidus smiled and put fisted hands on his hips.

Roxas looked up on 'we', and noticed for the first time some punk with wild red hair standing uncomfortable by the porch steps. The guy was tall, thin and were those tear drop tattoos under his eyes? Didn't murderers do that kind of thing? Roxas said the first thing that came to his mind, "What's a punk like you doing with a kid like this?"

Both Axel and Roxas ignored Tidus' protests about being called a kid, and Axel strode up to Tidus' side.

Roxas was shocked to see eyes so green and so cat like (?) from this towering boy, but he was not intimated. Not in the least.

"He's my brother," the punk, Axel said smoothly.

"You're lying," Roxas said equally as smooth.

"Half."

"You're still lying."

"Yeah, stop lying Axel!" Tidus scolded then turning his head back to Roxas, Tidus held up three fingers, "Okay, fist off. I'm not a 'kid'," Tidus ticked off one of his fingers then continued to the next, "Second, Axel is my sidekick and that makes it alright for him to hang out with me, got it?"

Roxas failed to respond, and so, Tidus continued on, bending down his third finger, "Lastly, you haven't introduced yourself yet, and if we are all to become friends then we need to know your name."

A silence fell. Tidus had his eyes squeezed shut and his mouth hanging open with misplaced pride, Axel was waiting for a bomb to drop, and Roxas was unreadable.

Roxas opened his mouth and Axel held his breath, "I'm Roxas."

And just like that the silence lifted.

"Hey Roxas, that's a cool name," Tidus chirped happily.

"Ah, thanks," Roxas rubbed his brow, "So, eh. What are you really doing here?"

"Well, I heard about the boy who went missing and I guess I just wanted to help out," Tidus said. The conversation he had with Axel earlier was at the fore of his mind, "I'll do my best!"

Tidus looked to Axel to see if he had any objection, and was thrilled to see none on his face, but rather a small half smile.

Roxas was taken a back, but was careful to hide it. They wanted to help? Why? Roxas peered hard in each of their eyes and Tidus began to twitch uncomfortably.

"So?" Axel prompted.

"Do you know your way around town?" Roxas asked looking from Tidus to Axel.

"Of course. I've lived here all my life," Tidus hummed.

"Tomorrow then. Meet me here at 8:00am."

"Alright!" Tidus pumped a fist into the air, and Axel whacked him on the back of the head, "Ow! Hey, what was that for?" Axel rolled his eyes.

"At 8:00," Axel agreed.

"It was nice meeting you, Roxas," Tidus saluted.

"Yeah, bye," Roxas concluded rather coldly, and for the second time that day he slammed the door closed.

-xxx-

Sora ran up the stairs, down the hall and into the room that he had chosen as his own with Roxas' name on his lips.

He collapsed onto the bed too exhausted to do much of anything else. Squeezing his eyes shut, Sora buried his head in the crook of his arms. Downstairs he heard a door opening and the muted voices of Riku and Selphe. Not ready to face the world Sora ignored them when they called his name.

It was a while before reality awoke Sora from his stupor, and silently he counted to ten, opened his eyes and lifted his head.

His bedroom hadn't changed, the bed that he was sprawled upon had light blue covers, and a little wood dresser was shoved up against the far side of the wall, just like it was supposed to be. Even the mirror that hung above it was perfectly whole…

"No," Sora groaned, and pushed his body off the bed and over to the mirror to view it under closer expression. He traced a finger where the largest crack in the glass should have been. The lost looking boy in the mirror stared at him, and Sora stared back.

"So, this is where you ran off to."

Badly startled, Sora whipped around, facing the intruder.

The man was tall with his head just a centimeter lower than the arch of the doorway. He had silver hair like Riku, but his hair went past his hips. He was clad in complementing black clothes that hugged all the right places. A frill of snowy lace peeked out from the neck. His face appeared to be sculpted from ice, and despite his cold eyes he was one of the handsomest men Sora had ever seen.

"Come with me, we need to talk," the man's voice was like dark velvet chocolate, and Sora knew that refusing was not an option.

Sora followed the mysterious man out of the room, down the stairs and into what he supposed was a sitting room, although all the furniture looked too hard to be comfortable.

The man took a seat in the most uncomfortable looking chair of the lot, and Sora followed suit choosing to sit on the loveseat across from the man.

"Riku tells me that all you seem to remember is your name and this house. So, I will start off with introducing myself," The man rested a hand against his chest, "I am called Sephiroth. I am charged with your well being in the absence of your father, and as I am a very busy person, I have sent you to live here along with my son, Riku."

Sora felt sapped of strength. A puppet had more life than he did at this moment, and he found that all he could do was sit and listen to the man who commanded attention with every fiber of his being.

"Marluxa and his younger sister, Namine have inherited this house from their father, Ansem upon his death. All I ask is that you treat them with respect, and reframe from creating… disturbances, no matter how great the temptation," Sephiroth paused as his eyes flew to the doorway.

Sora didn't turn his head to look at the intruder. He didn't care who it was, Marluxa, Riku, Selphe or someone new. It didn't matter.

Sephiroth must have deemed the other's presence acceptable, because he continued on, "In time, I'm certain that you will regain the memories you lost from when you received that bump on your head."

"I have memories," Sora croaked out suddenly feeling very much awake, "I have seventeen years worth of memories. I already have a life and I don't need you making one up for me!"

By the end of his speech, Sora was breathing so heavily that his body was shivering. He was also standing with his hands clenched into tight fists.

Sephiroth's eyes rested almost lazily on Sora, and when he opened his mouth Sora flinched as if he had been slapped, "They're dreams Sora. That's all they are."

"They're not dreams, they're real! I live here with my grandmother who can be extremely lazy, but who loves me, and I have a twin brother named Roxas who I've sworn to protect!"

"They are all you have now, Sora. And, they may seem real, but they are just a part of an elaborate dream that you've woken up from."

"Roxas is not a dream!"

"Calm down and stop this nonsense about a brother that only exists in your mind," While Sora's body shook with passion, Sephiroth was as composed as he was at the start of their conversation.

"My brother is real!"

"You do not have a brother."

"Stop saying that!"

"Sora, I will not play pretend with you, and I grow tired of this conversation. We will continue to educate you about your past when you let go of your illusions-"

"He's not an illusion!"

"-and are ready to listen to the truth," Sephiroth stated without batting an eye to Sora's outburst.

"I'll never be ready to listen to your lies!" Sora took a few steps back as he shouted this, and when he was finished, he ran towards the door. He ran away for the third time in two days.

He collided with Riku in his escape, knocking them both to the floor. They ended up as a knot on the ground and Sora landed on Riku's chest, while Riku's head slammed onto the floor.

"Sora," Riku gasped, little breath caused his voice to come out as a whisper.

"Let me go! I must find my brother," Sora untangled himself from Riku, and dashed to the front door. He rattled the handle and finding it locked his hands desperately hunted for the switch to unlatch it.

The second his fingers found it he twisted the latch and burst open the door. The light from a setting sun briefly blinded him, but he didn't let this stop him as he took off towards the maze like garden.

"Sora!" Riku called out, but Sora ignored him too, and as he entered the pressing green walls of the garden he shouted Roxas' name over and over again.

-xxx-

The trip back to town was deserted of everything except trees. They stood dark and imposing just a few yards from the road. Roxas' house really was in the middle of nowhere.

"So, that went over well," Tidus hummed. He led his bicycle by the handle bars in courtesy of the fact that Axel had to walk.

"I guess," Axel shrugged.

"Why are you guessing?" Tidus asked innocently.

Axel glared, "Why do you have to ask it like that?"

Tidus didn't answer instead he contented himself with observing Axel with large, blue, expecting eyes.

"We'll see how it goes tomorrow," Axel concluded.

-xxx-

After the punk and the kid had left, or rather he had shut the door in their faces; Roxas was at a brief lost. He didn't know what to think of their enthusiasm at helping him find Sora. Why did they care?

The bitch had gone to the police sure, but after that she had continued on as if everything was normal. Snapping at him at every opportunity and contenting herself with unpacking and phoning repair men. Roxas hated her, if Sora was here then he would see just how fake she was and he'd have taking Roxas' side.

Taking a deep breath, Roxas wearily hiked back up the stairs and went into the room with the broken mirror. The bedroom was small, but Roxas found this oddly comforting.

He fell upon the bed like a deflating balloon, and as he lay on his back he imagined that the water-stained ceiling was actually a sea of stars.

"_See that one? Now trace it to there…"Sora held a finger to the sky, tracing the shapes of the stars._

"_I don't see it. What is it suppose to be?"Roxas peeked at his brother, who was resting in the grass next to him._

_Earlier, Sora had convinced Roxas that he had found the best place to observe the stars. Roxas had followed Sora to a grassy hillside and the two had plopped down on their backs side by side. _

"_The handle of the Big Dipper, see this star is the point, and it leads to this star here, and then…"_

"_I still don't see it," Roxas squinted his eyes, and tried to follow Sora's finger, but to no avail._

_Sora took a hold of Roxas' hand and moved it along with his own, "Here to here to here…"_

_Roxas felt stupid when he still couldn't make out the alignment of the Big Dipper, he didn't really care about some Big Dipper anyway, and so he simply nodded to Sora then said, "Oh, there it is." _

Now, Roxas wished that he really did see it.

"Sora, where are you?" he whispered to the empty room.

-xxx-

_Next is Chapter Four: Reality Chrashes!_

_Thanks for writing, and please leave a review as I would love to know what you think!_


	4. Reality Crashes

_I was actually worried about this chapter at first. I was worried that there wouldn't be enough sections about Sora (who is the main character) and that Roxas, Axel and Tidus (who are important characters, but are not the **main **characters) would steal the chapter. Surprisingly, this did not happen as Sora had more to say then I thought he did, and Riku(who is another main character even though at times it doesn't seem like it) who was hardly going to be in this chapter found a way to weasel his part in. Thank you, Riku._

_And a big **Thank you** to all reviewed!_

**Chapter Four: Reality Crashes**

Sora ran with tangled thoughts crowding his mind. Physically he was unaware of himself, but his internal processes were reeling.

This deranged world had sprung up because he had entered this labyrinth, and Sora was sure that the way back home was somewhere back within the depths. He replayed last night's hazy memories: it was raining, he had dashed through the gates of the garden, he had felt so lost then, but last night didn't even compare to what he was feeling now. Hope and hopelessness, it all felt the same. It was a giant void sucking him into a narrowing tunnel of despair.

"Roxas!" he rasped, his throat felt raw with overuse.

Night descended, granting ghoulish figures of the gnarled plants and the path beneath Sora's feet felt like never-ending winding snakes. Their jaws poised in wait to swallow him into deeper depression.

Another dead end! Sora spun around, but tripped over his feet. Energy still coursed through his body, and he was back up in an instant, but instead of running on, he darted back to the dead end and started to claw a doorway out of the wall.

He snatched at cutting leaves and biting branches to push his way through their unforgiving cage.

"Roxas!" his voice was hoarse and scratchy, and the snarling edges of the broken labyrinth wall ripped at the skin on his hands and arms.

His drive came to a sudden halt the second he toppled to the other side of the wall and crashed against the callous ground.

He was not racked with sobs as his body was too emotionally and physically tired. Instead silent tears spilled from his eyes, but he was too drained to rub them away. He let them sting his cheeks as they fell.

Was he stuck forever in this nightmare?

Sora was not sure how long he laid there as he was unaware of the world around him, until he heard the sound of approaching feet. His fingers twitched and he whispered uncertainly, "Roxas?"

"Sora," was the soft reply. Sora groaned, knowing that the voice did not belong to his brother, but rather to Riku, "If you could only see yourself."

"I'm so lost," Sora murmured.

"I know," Riku knelt on his knees beside Sora's broken form, "but it's alright to be lost."

"How?" Sora pleaded.

"So, that you can be found," Riku ever so hesitantly brushed Sora's cheek with a touch as light as a feather. He wiped away a tear, tickling Sora's skin, "Here, I'm going to help you up."

Sora let himself be pulled to his feet; he was once again that puppet controlled by invisible strings. Riku hooked Sora's arm over his shoulder and guided him past the haunts of the labyrinth.

Sora stared at the ground watching both Riku's and his own feet gliding in and out of view.

When they passed through the gates that separated the land of the labyrinth to the outside world, Sora was disappointed that Riku didn't disappear.

"Roxas…"

Riku merely looked ahead with eyes that concealed his sorrow.

-xxx-

Apparently in Axel's household "Hey, mom! I'm going to borrow the car" meant that the car had a sudden prior engagement.

Axel signed heavily; knowing that he would have to walk to Roxas' house, because not only was the car "unavailable" but the front wheel on his bike had a flat tire. He was almost 110% certain that the flat tire was all of his sister's fault. My God, that girl could hold on to a grudge! He had only melted two of her Barbie dolls. Only two!

It was 7:26. Axel could have kicked himself in the head for agreeing to meet up so early. His unforgiving alarm clock had woken him just eleven minutes ago. He had finally rolled out of bed six minutes ago, and after scrounging around his room he found if not clean then a decent array of clothes that he threw on.

Now he stood in front of the mirror with a tooth brush in hand and toothpaste swirling against his teeth.

"Hey, Axel!"

Axel choked (on toothpaste no less), at the sudden appearance of a bouncing, inhumanly perky and blonde twelve year old.

"Are you ready to go?" Tidus inquired, oblivious to the sight of Axel coughing up toothpaste in the bathroom sink.

"Fucking A!" Axel screeched when he could speak again.

"Oooh, Axel cussed!"

"Shut the fuck up twerp," Axel snarled and threw Tidus out of the bathroom, "Wait out here! I could have been pissing for all that you know! I'm in the bathroom, damn it, you knock."

Axel slammed the door, and locked it. Then he checked to see if it was really locked. He checked a second time too as there was no telling what the twelve year old would do.

A few minutes later, Axel left the bathroom and almost collided into Tidus who had been sitting just a foot away from the bathroom door.

"You are the creepiest perv that I have ever known," Axel said as he ruffled Tidus' hair.

"That you've ever had the pleasure of knowing," Tidus corrected.

"Let's go. We have a long walk to make once again."

"Don't worry, Axel. I will make sure that none of the monsters in the woods will eat you," Tidus said as he bounced in Axel's wake.

"Thanks…kid," Axel smirked, but soon regretted it later as he had to deal with Tidus' complaints about not being a kid the full 30 minutes it took to get to Roxas' house.

-xxx-

The sheets strangled his body, and the pillows were knocked to the floor. The noontime sun invaded the bedroom and seemed to concentrate every fiber of its being on the closed eyes of the boy who was well awake.

Sora's hands clenched the sheets, yet other than that he was perfectly still. He wasn't sure what he was waiting for: Roxas to toss a pillow at his head, his grandmother to come to the door and softly sing a sunny good morning, or would it be the man in black with clawed hands reaching out to squeeze the breath from his throat?

He knew that he had not departed from this nightmare even though he had woken up. When he opened his eyes there would be no clouds of dust or peeling paint. And both his grandmother and brother would be strangely absent.

A sudden thought made Sora's back shoot up from the bed and open his eyes. "D-did I do this?"

When he had run away from Roxas and his grandmother, was there any sort of wishing or longing for them to disappear? The longer he thought about it, the harder it became to tell fiction from truth. Had he or not? He had wished for something, hadn't he?

"I've got to get out of here," Sora groaned into his hands. He swung his legs off the bed and let the rest of his body slide after him.

Last night, Riku had not taken Sora to the unbroken mirror bedroom; instead Sora had been half carried and half dragged to the third floor and into one of the many bedrooms that resided there. Riku had even taken the time to gently place Sora on the bed and tuck the troubled boy in.

Sora sighed, feeling somewhat guilty for a reason he could not name. He needed to find his brother, and the reason for this big cosmic screw up, or whatever it was that had brought him here, but most importantly he had to start searching for a way back.

But where to start?

Sephiroth was out of the question and so was Marluxa, but then it wasn't like he knew where to find those jerks. Riku and Selphe introduced themselves as his friends, but Sora still felt a little bit wary about Selphe. And that left Riku. The silver haired boy was the first person that Sora had met, so by default didn't that mean he would know something?

Sora supposed that if Riku lived here then he would eventually run into him. Sora glanced at the door, but didn't feel particularly inclined to leave the room. In fact his stomach felt sick at the thought.

So instead, Sora looked around at his new bedroom. It was quite a bit larger than the one he had chosen before, about three times the size even the furniture was bigger: the bed with its majestic bed curtains and the elegant maroon dresser with silver handles. The room looked like it belonged to someone with its stone fire place, crystal chandelier; classic rosewood sled and a lounging forest green cushioned loveseat with tons of plump pillows and a matching comfy chair.

A picture frame with the shape of a book stood upon the top of the bedside table, and curious, Sora wandered over to it. Ever so gently he picked it up. The cold gold frame shocked him, and it dropped from his hands. Sora's eyes widened and he dove to catch it before it crashed against the soldier straight wood floor. As the frame fell it slipped shut, but Sora's quick reaction saved it from the merciless collision.

Sora flipped open the picture frame and gasped in surprise. Standing in front of an eerily familiar man was a young unsmiling boy with spiky brown hair. Sora recognized himself within an instant, but not the place where the picture had been taken. Maybe, maybe it wasn't him. Maybe there were two Soras. It would explain why everyone thought they knew him but the idea of having someone look so jarringly similar who even had the same name was practically impossible.

"This is a mistake or something," Sora whispered to himself.

Sora was about to snap close the frame when his eyes came to rest on the tall, severe man standing behind 'him'. That man really was familiar, but Sora just couldn't place his finger on who he reminded him of. The dark eyes and the set of his mouth…

Slightly frustrated that he couldn't put a name to the face, Sora turned his attention to the other photograph. He recognized Riku immediately. The silver haired boy had his head titled to the side and it seemed to Sora as if Riku's mouth couldn't decide upon staying neutral or letting slip a smile. To Riku's left was the Selphe girl. Her arms were wrapped around Riku's almost possessively. And to Riku's left was the Sora imposter. Unlike in the other photograph the Sora imposter had the barest hint of a smile.

Sora replaced the picture frame, and turned once more to the door. It loomed ahead of him like a gate of Hell, but he had to open it. He couldn't stay in this cage for the rest of his life. He had to figure out what the hell was going on.

Taking a brave breath, Sora opened the door.

-xxx-

Roxas tip-toed down to the first floor, he could hear the bitch in the kitchen and on the phone with the lawn company. Just the sound of her scratchy voice irritated him, and he had to resist the urge to stomp down the stairs and start something.

There was a slight fear of Sora coming back to the house while he was out searching for him, but Roxas did his best to ignore it.

With keys in hand, Roxas softly shut the front door, and then he strode to his car. He rested his back against it while waiting for the punk and the kid.

They didn't disappoint as he heard the voices of the two bickering at exactly 8:00am. The tall, lean red head and the bobbling ball of energy at his side approached Roxas and stopped just a few feet away from him.

Upon seeing Roxas, Axel gave him a two finger salute.

"Hello, Roxas! We're here!" Tidus announced.

"Obviously," Roxas raised his eyebrows and squinted his eyes, clearly not impressed. He inclined his head towards his car, "Get in."

"Thank God," Tidus let out a big breath, and then made a heroic pose, "No more walking!"

Tidus moved as if to get in the passenger seat, but Axel spun him around to face the car door that led to the dreaded backseat.

"Shotgun," Axel smirked.

"Next time it's mine," Tidus warned.

Roxas twisted the key and the car putt-putted; he twisted the key again and met with the same result.

"Hold on a moment," Roxas sighed, and gave the key one more twist. This time the putt-putting was met with a steady hum and Roxas backed the car out of the driveway.

"Your car acting a little funny?" Axel observed.

"Just needs a tune up," Roxas grumbled, but then after a pause he said, almost apologetically, "and every once and a while the breaks are a little slow."

"Ooh, we're in a danger vehicle," Tidus exclaimed with a wide toothy smile.

"We're not in a da…" Roxas began.

"Are the breaks going to be a problem?" Axel turned in his seat to face Roxas. The other's hands gripped the wheel so tightly that his knuckles were white. 'Where did all that anger come from?' Axel thought.

"No, it'll be fine."

-xxx-

Sora wandered the halls like a ghost, disturbing nothing and unseen. The problem was that everyone else was acting like a ghost too. So far he had yet to encounter Riku or his father, Selphe or Marluxa. True, he would rather not see half of those people, but the empty feeling of the house was starting to oppress him. He was also feeling a little hungry, and while this was kind of, sort of, technically his house he wasn't sure if he was allowed to go and chow down on their food.

He had calmed down a considerable amount since last night. With a clearer head and a silent house, Sora found that he could just be himself and think.

While going over the facts or what they appeared to be, he always started with who he was: Sora, a seventeen year old with a twin whose parents had died and who lived with his grandmother. In this reality or dream or whatever it was, the Sora Imposter seemed to be under the care of Sephiroth and living with Marluxa and his sister, and Riku. The Sora Imposter didn't have a brother named Roxas and all of his grandparents had passed away.

Everything was different except for the house and the garden…or was it everything was the same except for the people?

"What is this place?" Sora wondered aloud.

"Sora, is that you?"

Sora's eyes widened in surprise and he spun around to see Selphe rounding the corner. She had on a pale pink dress and a pair of silk slippers that matched. The question in her eyes was answered when she spotted Sora.

"Selphe," Sora said, it was less of a question and more of a word to fill the awkward silence.

"I didn't expect you to be…" Selphe briefly touched a hand to her lips, and then smiled. Her whole demeanor seemed to change, and she skipped up to Sora until they were almost touching nose to nose.

"To be what?" Sora leaned back a bit, yet hoped that he would not offend the girl.

The girl ignored him, favoring a new topic, "Have you eating yet?" She smiled and hooked her arm through Sora's. "You must be hungry. I bet you haven't eaten all day."

"Well, now that you mention it," Sora could barely get this out while being rushed towards the kitchen. Did he have a choice? No, oh well. He was hungry.

Now that Sora could interrogate his first suspect (Suspect of what? Kidnapping?), his mind drew a blank. He had no solid theory and so he hadn't really come up with any questions.

When they entered the kitchen, Selphe practically shoved him on to a stool and then tore open the fridge door. Sora watched in awe as Selphe shuffled ingredients out of the fridge and the cupboards, and then worked her magic at cooking.

"Wow, you seem to really know what you're doing," Sora smiled.

"Well, everything I learned my mother taught me," Selphe purred happily.

"What are you making?" Sora hopped down from the stool and started hunting around for the plates and silverware.

"The silverware is in the third drawer down and the plates are over there," Selphe pointed a large wooden spoon at a grand cupboard filled with multiple sets of china plates, "And I'm making chocolate chip scones, bacon, and freshly squeezed fruit juice. That reminds me, the cups are behind me."

"I love chocolate!"

"I know," Selphe laughed, and Sora paused in his task, not sharing in her laughter, and yet not sub-coming to tears. 'It's just for a little while, I'll find a way out of here.'

Sora set up two places on the counter, and then picked up an orange, "I'll help…ow!"

"No, you won't," Selphe peered dangerously behind the same wooden spoon she had used to whack him with, "The kitchen belongs to me."

"The kitchen is all yours," Sora put back the orange and backed away towards the stool with his innocent hands in the air.

Sora sat on the stool, and contented himself with observing Selphe's whirlwind cooking tactics.

"Riku said that you're very lost right now," Selphe commented.

Caught by surprise, it took a while for Sora to answer, "He said that?"

"Yes, he's worried about you. We all are…well, except Marluxa, but who cares what he thinks anyways."

Sora wasn't really sure how he was supposed to respond to that. Obviously, the Sora Imposter was important to these people, but Sora didn't really feel anything for them other than confusion.

Selphe noticed his discomfort, girls were good at that sort of thing, Sora supposed. She grabbed the pitcher teaming with freshly squeezed juice and filled both Sora's cup and her own.

With averted eyes, she said softly, "It must be hard to be thrust into everything so quickly. I don't know how I would fare if I lost all my memories."

"I have memories."

"Yes, Sephiroth explained to us that you experienced vivid dreams."

"They aren't dreams!"

Selphe looked away, and except the ticking of the oven baking the scones it was silent once again, until, "You must be wondering about yourself."

"About the other Sora…yes."

"The other Sora?" Selphe half asked him, and half asked herself, but decided not to pursue the subject, "It may be easier to know how things work here. Let's see, where to start…"

"How about starting with the accident," Sora supplied. His hand unconsciously rubbed the bump on his head that had appeared from out of nowhere.

"The accident?"

"How I 'lost' my memories."

"Oh, that. Of course you wouldn't remember…I don't think I'm allowed to tell you that, so I'll begin with your…"

"Why wouldn't you be allowed to tell me?"

"It's complicated. I think if you want to know about that then you should ask Sephiroth before he leaves to go join your father."

"My father?"

Selphe smiled, "Now here is where I should start! Lord Auron, there is nothing that could kill that man. He's practically invincible. Right now he's doing business like half way around the world."

"My father's alive?" Sora whispered unbelieving. And the name, Auron. That was his real father's name.

Selphe didn't seem to hear him, "If I remember correctly then there is a photograph of him in your room."

-xxx-

Three photographs sat on the dashboard of Roxas' car. Axel snaked a hand over to them and picked them up. Roxas glanced at Axel, and seeing no objection, Axel flipped through them.

"I wanna see!" Tidus exclaimed, his head popped out from the backseat and he peered over Axel's shoulder to get a better view.

The first was of the spooky house: large, rundown with a twisted tower included. It may have looked cool in a different light, but Axel didn't understand why anybody would want to live there.

The second photograph was of a young man and woman. They were so caught up in each other's eyes that they failed to give a smile for the camera. There was nothing in their eyes except love, and Axel felt a pang in his own heart.

"Those were my parents," Roxas interrupted Axel's thoughts, and Axel's head shot up to look at him, "It was taken before I was born and before they were married."

"They look good together," Axel commented.

"Yeah," Roxas pulled a half smile, but kept his eyes to the road. Axel watched him trying to find the angry young man he had seen before.

"Next picture," Tidus hummed and tapped Axel on the shoulder. Axel complied and shuffled the photograph of Roxas' parents to the end of the pile.

In the last photograph, Axel recognized the younger Roxas right away, and yet it seemed to Axel that the Roxas with him now was only a pale imitation of the one in the photograph. His eyes weren't guarded, but filled with mirth. There was a softness in his face that could be contributed to innocence. The blonde haired boy had an arm loosely wrapped around another boy who could have been his twin. The other in turn had an arm around Roxas' shoulders and a smile so bright and cheery that Axel let slip a smile of his own.

"Sora does that to people."

Again, Axel turned to look at Roxas, and was surprised to find that the half smile of before had transformed into a whole one.

"Is Sora your twin?" Tidus asked.

"Yeah, he is," Roxas nodded, "but I'm a whole two hours older."

"And that's a fact that you won't let him forget?" Axel smirked.

"Damn right," Roxas replied.

Axel's eyes wandered back to the eternal image of the two brothers. Their expressions were so blissful here, but now when he looked at Roxas all he could see was a world weariness and a surprising amount of anger for one so young. What had happened that brought about this change? He wondered how Sora had fared throughout the years. Had he too grown calluses and resentment? And why had he run away?

-xxx-

He could see it now, the reason why the man had been so eerily familiar. There was the square of his jaw that hadn't been passed down to either him or Roxas and the proud way in which he carried himself. There were also changes, compared to the Auron of old, this one had shadows beneath his distant eyes, more lines on his face and a firm set to his mouth that Sora didn't remember being there at all…

But this wasn't his real dad, Sora tried to reason with himself. Yet, just the fact that he existed, was alive and just beyond arms reach was enough for Sora to want to meet him.

Selphe had told him over brunch that his father had left to travel around the world when the Sora Imposter's mother died. Auron hadn't been home since, but had instructed that the Sora Imposter be put under Sephiroth's care.

"_Why Sephiroth?" Sora inquired, in his mind Sephiroth would not have been an ideal candidate for childrearing._

"_Lord Auron and Sephiroth along with Marluxa and Namine's father were all childhood friends," Selphe giggled, "They must have had the most silent conversations ever. Mind to mind, you know?"_

Looking at the man in the photograph, Sora couldn't agree more. His father, or rather the Sora Imposter's father seemed to be the type of person who hid most of his suffering internally…like Roxas.

What was Roxas doing now? Did Roxas remember him? Or had he forgotten about him as soon as these people had "remembered" him? That was a thought that Sora did not want to dwell on.

"_If I write him a letter will he be able to get it?" Sora asked._

"_If you give it to Riku's father then I'm sure Lord Auron will get it," Selphe laid her hand over Sora's as she said this. _

"_When is he leaving?"_

"_Sometime this week. Might even be tomorrow," Selphe gently slid her hand off of Sora's and winked at him, "So, you better start writing the letter today!"_

Sora had found an elegant calligraphy pen and stationary set in a drawer from a desk in "his" room. Delicate black ribbons intertwined themselves on the head of the paper that he had chosen, and a glob of ink had spattered at the very bottom of the paper. He would be the first to admit that he didn't know the basics about calligraphy, but he hoped that the ink scratches were legible. He could read them, so that was good enough, right?

A knock at his door removed Sora from his thoughts, "Come in!"

Sora was half expecting the person in the doorway to be Selphe, and so he was slightly surprised to see that instead it was Riku. The silver haired young man was wearing an off white button up shirt with the top three buttons undone, and a delicate silver necklace with a winking crown charm peeked through. Riku had brought with him a breath of fresh air. Sora couldn't put a finger to what Riku smelled like only that he smelled good. Where had he been all day?

"How was your day?" Riku fidgeted with his necklace, and only took a step or two further into the room.

Sora wasn't about to lie, but he would feel guilty if he were to go off and blame all of this world hopping or alternate reality crap that had got him stuck here on Riku, and so he settled for a half truth, "Selphe kind of cheered me up a bit."

"How did she accomplish that?" Riku noticed what his hand was doing and stiffly dropped it to his side.

"She told me that my father is alive."

"He's practically invincible," Riku smiled.

"That's what Selphe said," Sora returned the smile, but it was a sad one. Auron may have been invincible in this world, but not in his own…

As if sensing his mood, Riku's own smile dimmed, and he invited himself further in the room, "What are you writing?"

"A letter to… him," Sora wanted so badly to call this Lord Auron his father, but he knew that in doing so he would just be leading his heart to break further. When he was back in his own world he would be fatherless once again.

"May I see?" Riku inclined his head towards the letter resting in Sora's hands.

"Eh? Sure," Sora handed Riku the letter, "The writing isn't exactly readable, but you're welcome to try. "

Sora studied Riku as he read the letter. Silver bangs obscured ocean green eyes, and there was a hint of lean muscle under his shirt. And he smelled like…

"Heaven," Sora whispered.

"What?" Riku looked up and met Sora's eyes with his own.

"Did you finish reading?" Sora asked quickly.

"Hmm, yeah," Riku gave Sora back the letter, "Sephiroth will be leaving sometime this week, so you better make sure to give it to him."

"If I can find him," Sora mumbled.

Riku laughed, "Yeah, he can only be found when he wants to be, but I'm sure he'll come and talk to you before he leaves. He always does."

Sora wanted to send his letter off to his…the Sora Imposter's father, but he was less than thrilled about the whole concept of actually exchanging words with Riku's father.

"Sephiroth will give your letter to your father," Riku said misreading the reason behind the pout on Sora's lips.

Sora nodded his head, "Riku, can I ask you a question?"

"Of course," Riku smiled.

"Why do you call your father by his name?"

"Because, I can't see him as anything else," Riku said carefully.

"I can see what you mean," Sora rubbed the back of his head. His fingers brushed against the mysterious bump, "I was surprised to learn that my father had appointed yours as my guardian. He doesn't look like babysitter material."

It wasn't until after he said this that Sora realized his mistake. He had said 'my father' and 'my guardian'.

"Sephiroth couldn't tell a diaper from a baby," Riku said dryly, and Sora laughed, but mostly to block out his mistake on words. That's all they were after all, words not feelings.

"Imagine him trying to change one," Sora feigned smelling a diaper, and he screwed his eyes and pinched his nose in pretend disgust.

Riku laughed, a warm and inviting sound, and Sora found himself genuinely laughing too. Apparently, the laughter was not only contagious, but long lasting. Sora found himself falling on his bed giggling, and Riku's arms wrapped around his stomach unable to stop snickering despite the pain in his side.

The laughter was a form of relief for Sora, and he looked over at Riku and for some reason he just knew that Riku's laughter came from the same place.

Another realization struck Sora. The reason why Riku had defended him, took care of him, and acted so awkward when he had first entered. When he could finally catch his breath and Riku's laughter had subsided into a few chuckles, Sora said, "We used to be friends, didn't we?"

"Best friends," Riku corrected, "Pretty much grew up together."

Riku's mouth turned down at the corners, he walked up to the bed then plopped down beside Sora. The bed sank where he landed and Sora felt himself slide closer to the other.

"You knew so much about me, and I you, but now, that's all gone. You're like a different person now, and I'm not sure where I fit in your life anymore."

"I'm sorry," Sora said. It was all that he could think of to say. He had never thought that someone else in this house would be swarmed with feelings of loss and loneliness like he was.

Riku's chin rested in one hand and his other reached over to Sora and brushed a stray hair from his face, "The old Sora would never have apologized."

-xxx-

Roxas would never admit it, but he was actually enjoying the company of both the punk and the kid. He hadn't expected to find Sora, and the current 'investigation' (as Tidus called it) had turned up nothing. Despite this Roxas had kept his eyes peeled for any sign of his brother. Roxas was disappointed, but the presence of the others gave him the optimism that there was still tomorrow. Sora would come back. He couldn't stay mad forever.

It was getting dark, and Tidus had to be home for a late dinner so their search was put on hold until tomorrow.

"And you take a right, right here," Roxas caught Tidus pointing in the rearview mirror.

"Is that right?" Axel joked.

"Stupid," Roxas murmured, but a tiny smile found its way on his face. He quickly whipped it off, and glanced at Axel to see if he had caught it. He had, and gave Roxas a smile of his own.

"Keep your eyes on the road," Axel scolded.

"You're not my mother," Roxas snapped, but there wasn't any of his usual anger in the remark.

"Axel's not even a girl, I saw," Tidus chirped. Roxas burst out laughing.

"What?! You were spying on me!" Axel choked out, "How in all the seven Hell's did you become such a pervert?"

"How dare you! I'm not a pervert!" Tidus' hands balled into fists and he rough housed with the air, " Roxas, what's a pervert?"

"A kid named Tidus, apparently," Roxas shrugged.

"Well, then it must be a good thing," Tidus concluded.

"Not where you're concerned," Axel flicked Tidus' forehead, and Tidus let out a series of complaints.

Roxas let the chuckle die on his lips, should he really be so content when his brother was missing? Swearing to redeem himself, Roxas attempted to double his search.

Tidus' house, while not as far out as his, was a ways from town and buried out in the lighter section of the woods. A triangular, yellow sign warning of deer fleshed in and out of Roxas' window. The trees also whizzed by, their dark earthy shades blending into one long, extending shadow.

Up ahead on the road, what Roxas had once thought of as a shadow seemed to morph into the form of a person. Darkness cloaked the figure and Roxas felt like he had the only time he had ever been on a rollercoaster, the time the doctors loomed over Sora and him to deliver life altering news, and the time his grandmother's clawed hand had dug into his shoulder as she hissed, 'Don't tell Sora…'

The darkness opened its timeless, amber, abyss eyes and in them Roxas saw a vision.

_Flitting light in a twisted tower,_

_sky blue eyes like his own…_

_Sora?_

_Tears hitting the window panes_

_of an all too familiar house. The back_

_of a tall man, he turns_

_a scar divides his face. A fierce_

_storm, and a split mirror._

_The reflection is a sinister shadow_

_And Roxas is looking in the mirror or is it_

_Sora?_

_Shadow with a bleeding heart and_

_Silver hair, the face is clear_

'_It hurts.'_

"Fucking stop the car!"

Roxas awoke from the spell of the amber eyes with Axel's frantic cry. He shook his head, and the shadow in the middle of the road became clear, and Roxas hit the brakes, but as luck would have it the brakes made a gutting sound, and the car's speed remained the same.

"Shit!" Roxas' hands clenched tightly on the wheel. Axel tried to reach the wheel and Tidus screamed.

They were going to crash.

_Side Note- There is quite a bit of hints and foreshadowing in this chapter and all in all it was fun to write. I'm working on the next chapter of this and I hope to get it out soon(ish)!!!_

_Please review, I really appreciate when you do! I like to know what you think. Not to mention it encourages me to get to work on the next chapter!_


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